Thursday 18 August 1664

Lay too long in bed, till 8 o’clock, then up and Mr. Reeve came and brought an anchor and a very fair loadstone. He would have had me bought it, and a good stone it is, but when he saw that I would not buy it he said he [would] leave it for me to sell for him. By and by he comes to tell me that he had present occasion for 6l. to make up a sum, and that he would pay me in a day or two, but I had the unusual wit to deny him, and so by and by we parted, and I to the office, where busy all the morning sitting. Dined alone at home, my wife going to-day to dine with Mrs. Pierce, and thence with her and. Mrs. Clerke to see a new play, “The Court Secret.” I busy all the afternoon, toward evening to Westminster, and there in the Hall a while, and then to my barber, willing to have any opportunity to speak to Jane, but wanted it. So to Mrs. Pierces, who was come home, and she and Mrs. Clerke busy at cards, so my wife being gone home, I home, calling by the way at the Wardrobe and met Mr. Townsend, Mr. Moore and others at the Taverne thereby, and thither I to them and spoke with Mr. Townsend about my boy’s clothes, which he says shall be soon done, and then I hope I shall be settled when I have one in the house that is musicall. So home and to supper, and then a little to my office, and then home to bed. My wife says the play she saw is the worst that ever she saw in her life.

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18th. Thursday. In the morning set sail out of the Downs. Little wind in the morning and so drove with the tide of ebb into Dover road. In the afternoon an eastwardly gale sprang up fine and fresh and we made all the sail we could and at 7 at night we were up with the Ness. Ships in company: - London, Revenge, Dreadnought, Dover, Kent, Elizabeth, Breda, Gloucester, Henrietta yacht. At 4 oclock this afternoon I sent off the French and Dutch prizes to Dover and a packet for London.

Richard Nichols, with the four frigates under the command of Captain Hugh Hyde, anchor in Nyack or Gravesend Bay in the Narrows just off Coney Island, and join up with the New Haven and Long Island militias on shore. Nichols issues proclamations to the Dutch towns on Long Island and the Burghers of New Amsterdam and sends word to Peter Stuyvesant, director or Governor of New Netherland, demanding the surrender of all the towns , forts and other places of strength possessed by the Dutch.

The main object of the expedition was the reduction of the Dutch colony to 'an entire submission and obedience' to the King on the grounds that the Dutch were interlopers on English territory. The passage of these lands in the grant of a Charter to the Duke of York had taken place on March 12th. 1664. The grouping of lands given away to form Ducal property was unlike anything known thus far in English America. They included Maine between the St. Croix and Kennebec rivers and northward to the St. Lawrence; Long Island, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket; and all the region from the Connecticut River to the Delaware and northward to and including Albany; the west bank of the Delaware was added later.

"spoke with Mr. Townsend about my boy's clothes, which he says shall be soon done"

It takes a tailor's son -- one who had a suit PDQ of (the foul-mouthed) Langford -- to hassle the Clerk of the King's Great Wardrobe about the garb for the Clerk of the Acts' boy the day after the order had been placed, sc. Wednesday 17 August: "spoke with my boy Tom Edwards, and directed him to go to Mr. Townsend (with whom I was in the morning) to have measure taken of his clothes to be made him there out of the Wardrobe, which will be so done, and then I think he will come to me." http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1664/08/17/

No nervousness on Sam's part that some gallant at the playhouse might take a liberty or two? And our innocent Bess in the company of that painted harlotMrs. Clerke and the worldly beautious if ever-pregnant Mrs. Pierce... Take care, Samuel.

Compass - An instrument for directing or ascertaining the course of ships at sea, consisting of a circular box, containing a paper card marked with the thirty two points of direction, fixed on a magnetic needle, that always points to the north, the variation excepted. The needle with the card turns on a pin in the center of the box. In the center of the needle is fixed a brass conical socket or cap, by which the card hanging on the pin turns freely round the center. The box is covered with glass, to prevent the motion of the card from being disturbed by the wind.

"My wife says the play she saw is the worst that ever she saw in her life."Delightful to hear Elizabeth using this very Samwellian exclamation too.

I'd liken it, nowadays, to naming the worst movie that you've ever seen in your life, but as that would lead us far astray from the Diary, be it far from me to mention it. (There's nothing like a nice apophasis first thing on a Sunday morning.)

Book VII : CONTAINING THE THIRD PART OF THE REIGN OF PETER THE HEADSTRONG--HIS TROUBLES WITH THE BRITISH NATION, AND THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE DUTCH DYNASTY.

"The very dogs, as they eyed him, skulked away in dismay; while all the old and ugly women of New Amsterdam ran howling at his heels, imploring him to save them from murder, robbery, and pitiless ravishment!"http://www.gutenberg.org/files/13042/13042-h/13...

"Finally, to strike a violent blow at the very vitals of Great Britain, a multitude of the wiser inhabitants assembled, and having purchased all the British manufactures they could find, they made thereof a huge bonfire, and in the patriotic glow of the moment, every man present who had a hat or breeches of English workmanship pulled it off, and threw it into the flames, to the irreparable detriment, loss and ruin of the English manufacturers! In commemoration of this great exploit they erected a pole on the spot, with a device on the top intended to represent the province of Nieuw Nederlandts destroying Great Britain, under the similitude of an eagle picking the little island of Old England out of the globe; but either through the unskillfulness of the sculptor, or his ill-timed waggery, it bore a striking resemblance to a goose vainly striving to get hold of a dumpling."

"Within three hours after the surrender, a legion of British beef-fed warriors poured into New Amsterdam, taking possession of the fort and batteries. And now might be heard from all quarters the sound of hammers made by the old Dutch burghers, in nailing up their doors and windows, to protect their vrouws from these fierce barbarians, whom they contemplated in silent sullenness from the garret windows as they paraded through the streets.

Thus did Colonel Richard Nichols, the commander of the British forces, enter into quiet possession of the conquered realm, as locum tenens for the Duke of York. The victory was attended with no other outrage than that of changing the name of the province and its metropolis, which thenceforth were denominated New York, and so have continued to be called unto the present day. The inhabitants, according to treaty, were allowed to maintain quiet possession of their property, but so inveterately did they retain their abhorrence of the British nation that in a private meeting of the leading citizens it was unanimously determined never to ask any of their conquerors to dinner."

"since none but great sovereigns have a right to give away what does not belong to them. That this munificent gift might not be merely nominal, his Majesty ordered that an armament should be straightway despatched to invade the city of New Amsterdam by land and water, and put his brother in complete possession of the premise"

It be strange there be no rumours to this expedition to expand Charles' port folio was heard on the streets of the City. usually there be some tattle tale long before the event, especially amongst the Tars.

Downing had been agitating for the end of Dutch supremacy for years; he first won over the Duke of York. How and from whom Downing and the Duke heard of the quarrels taking place between Dutch and English in New Amsterdam is not clear. However Col. John Scott was in England from early 1662 to fall of 1663. He had aroused the wrath of the Dutch authorities on Long Island who had charged him and an attendant mob with pursuing them 'by fire and sword, yea running through those who will not say that we are not seated on the King's ground, etc.' Scott appears to have reached some accommodation with Stuyvesant and was confident of being allowed to control the region beyond the East River. While in England he appears to have been hopeful of a proprietary of his own in the event of an English takeover, but was to be disappointed when the Duke appropriated all to himself. On his return to Long Island he then angered the Connecticut authorities by setting himself up as the 'president' of a small republic formed from the towns of western Long Island. Connecticut proceeded to put him in jail in Hartford.

The immediate precipitating cause of the expedition was a as a report by a committee of Cartaret, Berkeley and Coventry on Jan 29th. 1664 recounting the encroachments of the Dutch on English settlements and recommending immediate action. The committee had before them evidence furnished by Colonel John Scott, amongst a handful of others, and a 'brief Narrative' drafted in part by Scott intended to set out the king's title to New Netherland, the Dutch intrusion and the best way to be rid of the Dutch 'occupation.'

The months of February, March and April must have been a busy time with those responsible for the undertaking and, because there are no other than official references to the activities behinds the scenes, the preparations must have been made with considerable secrecy. [The Venetian resident does not mention the expedition to New Netherland until October 1664, long after the capture of New Amsterdam, and he apparently knew nothing about it at the time. To him the troubles with the Dutch were all due to the Guinea situation. Even after the capture had been effected Downing told De Witt in Holland that the driving of the Dutch out of New Netherland 'was not true and that it could not be,' though of course he knew it was true. The resident, not without reason called Downing 'cunning ' and spoke of the 'secrets of this government' as 'impenetrable'.] Rumors of the projected invasion, to which hardly any attention was paid in England, reached both New England and New Amsterdam and were confirmed when the King in royal letters to each of the New England Colonies sent word of the appointment of commissioners and bade each cooperate with them to the fullest extent. He notified Massachusetts of the proposed reduction of New Netherland and reminded the commonwealth of his dissatisfactions with their former attitude and his expectation they would do better in future. In this he was sadly disillusioned. Massachusetts had no intention, if it could be avoided, of obeying a royal command or of admitting the right of any royal commissioner to interfere in her affairs.

"no other outrage than that of changing the name of the province and its metropolis"

Well, JWB, there was the fact that "the flag of the Dutch Republic was lowered, and the British flag was run up in its place." http://www.nyc350.org/history.html This site says that was 11 days hence (29 August), but there does seem to be some disagreement about the turnnover date.

(1) My Encyclopedia Britannica says 8 September (24:878);(2) "On 30 August 1664, George Cartwright sent the governor a letter demanding surrender. He promised 'life, estate, and liberty to all who would submit to the king's authority.' Stuyvesant signed a treaty at his Bouwerie house on 9 September 1664. Nicolls was declared governor, and the city was renamed New York City." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Stuyvesant(3) The Dutch Wikipedia says the surrender was 24 Septemberhttp://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/1664

Another one of those seemingly small tactical defeats that turn out to have enormous strategic implications. Still, even if DeRuyter could have saved the day for the present had he been directed to America rather than Guinea it does seem hard to imagine the Dutch managing to hold on to New Amsterdam for much longer given the large and growing English settler population in New England.

The Dutch adopted the Gregorian calender in 1582; Sunday, December 9, 1582 was followed by Monday, 20 December 1582. This was a difference of ten days.

When Great Brittan adopted the Gregorian Calendar in 1752 it was necessary to correct by eleven days (Wednesday, September 2, 1752 being followed by Thursday, September 14, 1752) to account for February 29, 1700 (Julian).

Dates therefore depend upon whether the the person converting uses the pre or post 1752 number for the conversion. If a date has been converted twice, say from English OS - Dutch NS - English OS, this could give a maximum difference in date of +\-2 for the same day! The 'old style' (English Pepys' period)dates below are those used by Andrews who cites consistently from the published series 'New York Colonial Documents vol ii.'

August 18th. (August 28-30 NS) -- Nichols arrival in the narrows & issues a Proclamation. Stuyvesant p[lays for time and refuses to surrender.

August 27th. (Sept 7-9 NS) -- Terms agreed upon and signed at Stuyvesant's farmhouse by Nichols, Car and Cartwright for the English; five burghers and Pastor Domine (Johannes) Megapolensis for the Dutch and John Winthrop,(Governor of Mass) Capt John Pynchon (Mass. General Court) Samuel Wyllys & Capt. Thomas Clarke (Connecticut) for the New England interests. Stuyvesant refused to sign.

August 29th. (Sept 9-11 NS) Articles ratified. Stuyvesant marches out of Fort, with his troops and the 'honors of war,' Dutch troops embarked on a West India Company ship, Dutch colors hauled down. Nchols takes possession of the fort and English colors hoisted; his first act is th rename the city 'New York' and the fort 'Fort James.'

September 4th. (14-16 NS) The Commissioners meet delegates of the Long Island towns and Connecticut magistrates at Gravesend and announce the Royal Letters patent and Governor Winthrop agrees that Connecticut jurisdiction over any part of Long Island will cease.

September 24th, (style unknown)-- Final surrender of New Netherland; Fort Orange & Beverwyck (Albany) surrender to Cartwright. Wiltwyck, (Kingston) surrenders on the down river return.

"Massachusetts had no intention, if it could be avoided, of obeying a royal command or of admitting the right of any royal commissioner to interfere in her affairs."

To anticipate, it was King Philip's War of 1676, and specifically the alliance of New York with the powerful Mohawks (who were happy to raid their old enemies to the east, the Algonquians of New England), that enabled New York to get the upper hand and eventually impose imperial control over the recalcitrant Puritan colonies.

The conquest of New Netherlands, rechristened in May I664, was planned by Cromwell, and only deferred by peace made in the Protectorates' first year. Virginia, New England and Maryland had all received charters from the Stuarts embracing the banks of the Hudson and Delaware actually in Dutch possession, and no English government yet had admitted the Dutch title; it was "only in the maps" Downing blandly told De Witt, that any such county as "New Netherlands "existed.

It was a case of further penetration rather than conquest, for New York had been from the first a most cosmopolitan colony, from 1640 the growing element being the English, who spread over the border from Connecticut and now held about half of Long Island. An ''English ''secretary in the Dutch government implicitly admitted this Anglicization, and by the Restoration many townships were divided between English and Dutch factories. From murderous adventurers like John Scott and New England experts like Samuel Maverick, advices reached Clarendon and the Plantations committee that the time was ripe.

The English ministry clearly viewed the question less as one of attacking the Dutch than as part of a much-needed reorganization of the American Colonies, whose boundaries were uncertain, their politics rabid, and their administration week. The Navigation Act could not be enforced while the Dutch held Manhattan Bay, which separated New England from the southern colonies: our customs officers reckoned that £10 000 a year was lost by Dutch shipments of tobacco; New Amsterdam, so Clarendon heard, was in undesirable communication with the regicides' refuge at New Haven. It was not contemplated that the conquest would be difficult, for the Dutch West India Company had scandalously neglected New Amsterdam, and in January 1664, just when the States general were waking to the danger, a committee of Council, including William Coventry, recommended immediate action. In March the Duke of York was named as proprietor of a huge belt between Connecticut and the Delaware, and in the middle of May the Royal Commissioners left Portsmouth, empowered primarily to correct the administration of all the colonies, but incidentally to expel the Dutch encroachers.

Updated URLs of maps to which Michael Robinson and I (Terry F) linked earlier:

Duke’s plan of New YorkThis anonymous plan is entitled 'A description of the towne of Mannados or New Amsterdam as it was in September 1661'. It is likely that it is an English copy of a map made for the Dutch authorities in 1661 by Jacques Cortelyou which may have been handed over to the English by the last Dutch governor, Pieter Stuyvesant following his surrender of the town in September 1664.http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/mapsvie...